


There's a stranger sitting in my armchair

by queen_ypolita



Category: The Charioteer - Renault
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Challenge Response, Gen, Ghosts, alcoholic clichés, fathers and sons, filling in the blanks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-22
Updated: 2007-10-22
Packaged: 2017-10-04 13:51:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_ypolita/pseuds/queen_ypolita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laurie is getting ready for his mother's wedding when he finds a surprise visitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's a stranger sitting in my armchair

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [the ghost challenge](http://community.livejournal.com/maryrenaultfics/189060.html) at [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/maryrenaultfics/profile)[**maryrenaultfics**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/maryrenaultfics/). Apologies for the overuse of alcoholic clichés.

His shirt was neatly laid out on the frayed armchair. Aunt Olive had insisted on ironing it again first thing in the morning. He felt faintly embarrassed at her fussing; she was always too keen to please.

He put the shirt on and buttoned it absentmindedly, going over his response to the bride in his mind. Thinking of sitting down for a minute to collect his thoughts before he finished dressing and joined the others, he turned towards the armchair.

A moment ago it had been empty, now it was occupied by a sad shape of a man whose brown suit looked like it had been slept, whose eyes weren't quite in focus, who smelled strongly of alcohol and sweat.

Laurie blinked but the man didn't disappear. When the man coughed and tried to focus his bloodshot eyes on him, Laurie realised with a shock that it was his father. It couldn't be, but it was – not like he remembered him but what he must have been just before the end. Laurie hadn't been to the funeral, his grandparents had insisted it wasn't a place for a child, he wasn't entirely sure if his mother had gone.

"Getting married again, is she? I thought she would have done it sooner but knowing her, she couldn't wait to perfect her poor helpless widow with a son act. Does the poor man know what he is getting into? She may look gentle but it's all icy heart and deft manipulation underneath."

The man paused. Laurie pinched himself and closed his eyes but the man was still there when he opened them, the back of his hand smarting from his sharp nails.

"Where was I? Oh, yes, at least that father of hers isn't around any more, to look after his little petal and look down on her brute of a husband."

"I should have never married her. But I was young and silly and thought she was wonderful. Then we had you, I got restless, she started to play her games of affection with you... And then her father, always digging for dirt, gave her the edited highlights to confront me – which she promptly did – and then manfully put his disgust aside to confront me over the things he couldn't bring himself to utter aloud in the presence of his precious daughter. That was the end. He told me to leave and not to make trouble about the divorce, I obeyed, and it all worked out perfectly when I had the good sense to die fairly soon afterwards."

The man paused again. The silence was broken by a sound of breaking glass from the kitchen.

"You must finish dressing, son, otherwise you'll be late and she won't like that," the man said and vanished just as abruptly as he had appeared.

There was a knock on the door and Aunt Olive's voice said, "Laurie, dear, are you nearly ready? Your mother is asking for you."

He mumbled a response and sank in the armchair, with his face in hands. All the words he had been planning for his response to the bride suddenly seemed hollow.


End file.
